A/N: As previously mentioned, we're having a shift in our storytelling... at the moment, we're still at the point in the Loud House timeline where we're revisiting the events of "Stage Plight," however, we already know what happens in that episode as far as theater club is concerned, so for now, we're going to redirect our focus onto Spencer integrating back into the sports club as an athlete, as well as Ruby as a groupie. The theater club isn't being completely dropped from the story, however, they are going to have to give up the spotlight for a few chapters (yes, pun intended; sorry).

Since middle school, Ruby Patel had built something of a reputation for herself of being a wanderer; she floated her way through one social circle after another, and usually without really establishing any kind of actual, meaningful connection with the people she hung out with – a no-strings-attached sort of deal. This was very much what her rather active social life was like for over three years, and never before did she possess any sort of qualm or disinclination over any of the times she slipped out of one circle to move onto another.

So, why did she have second thoughts about dropping out of the Royal Woods High theater club? She never gave a second thought about moving on from any particular group, clique, social circle, or club before; why this time all of the sudden?

Perhaps, because, since she never made any real connections with people before, there was no reason for her to feel any kind of doubt about leaving them behind. That also, quite possibly, could explain why her now-former fellow thespians seemed a might disconcerted by her decision to drop out of the club. It was unlike anything she had experienced before; nobody had ever made mention of her no longer mingling or hanging out with them and/or whatever little groups or cliques she had previously associated herself with – nobody made so much of a fuss about it, she just came and went as pleased… the very idea that she may have bruised the feelings of others had eaten away at her conscience just a tad.

Then, of course, there was Shannon… her best friend… perhaps even somebody she could say felt like an honorary sister… Ruby was not used to developing connections with other people, though Shannon Tannenbaum was, obviously, the biggest exception… all of those weeks they had spent forming a close bond to one another in the theater club and forming such a deep and meaningful friendship seemed like such a terrible thing to just throw away as she had… But, Ruby had to remind herself of just that: Shannon was her best friend… are best friends not supposed to be supportive of one another, regardless of what they decide to do with their lives? After all, was that not what Shannon told her in the cafeteria yesterday? That it's her life, and that should be free to do as she pleases? By that logic and reasoning, Shannon should be totally fine with her decision to drop out of the theater club if she chose to, correct? Of course. Shannon was her best friend; surely, she understood completely. But… perhaps, just to be on the safe side, she might just want to make one-hundred-percent certain that Shannon did, indeed, understand completely.

Ruby had finally managed to make her way through yet another slow-moving lunch line with her tray of food, and as her eyes scanned the cafeteria, they eventually fell upon the table where a few of her former fellow thespians sat, ate, and talked amongst themselves: Lyberti, Leo, and Shannon. Benny and Luan seemed curiously absent, but even so, the other three appeared rather content at their table… or, so it seemed. After weeks of studying emotion in theater, Ruby had developed a better sense of being able to read other people, and from what she could see, the bespectacled brunette in the orange sweater looked as though she was smiling on the outside, but crying on the inside. As she bit her bottom lip, she humbly started to step over into the direction of the table where the thespians sat, until another voice garnered her attention…

"Hey, where are going?" Spencer asked as he, too, had finally gotten through the long lunch line and noticed his girlfriend was seemingly wandering away aimlessly.

"Huh?" She responded as she turned to see who it was who addressed her. "Oh, I was just…"

"We're over here…" Spencer pointed to another table where his fellow jocks and their respective lady friends sat.

"Oh, yeah; comin'…" she responded with a smile.

She took one last look over at Shannon, who still was engaged in conversation with Lyberti and Leo; once again, she attempted to mentally reassure herself that all was well.

Get over it, girl, she thought to herself. Shans is, like, totally cool with everything; time to move on.

Finally, she caught up with her boyfriend as they both grabbed a seat at the table occupied by some of the other sports club jocks and jockettes; Spencer wasted no time in dropping his tray to the table below him and began to chow down on the contents contained within.

"Man, I didn't think I was ever gonna get through that line," he said as he crammed a spicy meatball sub into his mouth. "I was so hungry!"

"Dude, you're always hungry!" Carlton remarked.

"Yeah, I dunno which is more unsafe around you, sports balls or meatballs!" Horatio added.

Clearly, the other jocks were merely ribbing Spencer over his seemingly insatiable appetite, though Ruby attempted to, just as playfully, jump to his defense, as she said, "You can't really blame him; after all, he is, like, a growing boy."

Spencer nearly choked on a meatball as soon as his girlfriend said that, and it also garnered some rather hearty chortles from the other jocks as well. She knew what she said was a humorous remark, but she thought their laughter seemed a little too extreme; some of them struggled to catch their breath, and Brandon had even managed to snort some of his Crocodilejuice through his nostrils, much to her disgust.

"You know something the rest of us don't, Rubes?" Carlton wheezed between laughs.

She furrowed her brow in confusion, and the disapproving glare she received from Spencer did not help matters much either.

"What's wrong with you?" He muttered while he still tried to clear his throat of the chewed-up bites of meatballs.

Ruby was still confused over what it was she said; she was not entirely naïve about the ways of the boy world, but it did take a little while for her to realize that what she had intended to be just a humorous little remark about Spencer's appetite –which is pretty common among teenagers, anyway- was, instead, misinterpreted as a euphemism for something else entirely. Overcome with feelings of embarrassment, a red-faced Ruby nearly sunk in her seat… why did boys always have to pervert everything with their gutter minds?

Later still, after the school day had concluded and Ruby met up with Spencer by his locker, he still seemed rather miffed over what had happened during lunch earlier that afternoon.

"What were you thinking in the cafeteria?" He demanded to know.

"Hey, don't blame me if your friends, like, totally have their minds in the gutter!" She rebutted in her own defense.

"Still!" He barked. "That was a dumb thing to say! Why don't you think before you say anything?"

"Well, excuse me for trying to, like, fit in with your friends," she snarked.

Spencer sighed; she did have a point about just trying to fit in with his friends now that she was a sports club groupie… he just did not appreciate how her innocent remark resulted in another moment of embarrassment for him.

"Yeah, you're right, I'm sorry…" he said. "Can you just be a little more careful with what you say around these guys, please?"

While Ruby was not really spoiled or entitled, she did have something of a sensitivity to being ordered around and told what to do by her peers like this. Nevertheless, Spencer was her first serious boyfriend, and as such, she could recognize that in order for such a relationship to work, both parties needed to be willing to give a little.

With a reluctant sigh, she agreed, "Yeah… I'll try…"

With a more satisfied sigh, he responded, "Thanks, Rubes. Well, it's time for practice… care to join me?"

"Totally!" She said.

Upon leaving the world of theatrics behind, Spencer was more than ready to get back into the world of sports, and not only were his teammates happy to see him make such a triumphant return while the current football season was still underway, Coach Rubiner was also very much delighted to see him back on his roster just the same; in a sense, Spencer felt as though he no longer had to live a double life, nor keep it a secret from any of his peers… even though, he still had secrets that needed to be kept, as he would shortly come to realize.

The other girls in the club who were cheerleaders and/or the girlfriends of some of the other players had readily accepted Ruby into their little group, and while the players were about to engage in their training and drills for the day, they brought her over to the bleachers to show her the special seats that were always reserved for them so they could get the best view of the action out on the field during the games – all the while they enlightened her on how she could get the most out of being a part of their group.

"You sure you don't want to be a cheerleader?" Brittany asked as she and the other girls escorted Ruby to the bleachers. "We have a killer cheering squad that's super intense!"

"Yeah, we're always looking for new recruits with tons of energy," added Sophia. "You seem to be a little firecracker from what Spencer's told us."

Tantalizing as the offer sounded, Ruby, again, modestly declined, "Like I said, I'm, like, totally not built like a cheerleader, like, at all."

Not in comparison to these other girls who were definitely natural cheerleader material: tall, statuesque, in possession of the kind of body structure that was well-suited for filling out cheerleading uniforms in all the right places. Ruby dwarfed them with her shorter stature and under-developed body; if anything, she thought even Shannon was built more like a cheerleader than she with her curvier body and longer legs… which suddenly gave her a rather intriguing mental image of Shannon rocking a cheerleading uniform… an image that soon disappeared when, from an adjacent field, a voice was heard yelling, "FORE!"

The others knew what this meant, as Tiffany exclaimed, "HEADS UP!"

The other girls immediately ducked for cover, which left Ruby rather confused… until she could see from a distance a white golf ball that flew straight toward her head. A split second's hesitation could have cost the Indian girl a rather serious head injury, but thankfully, she, too, managed to duck just in time in order to avoid a potential skull fracture with a possible epidural hematoma. It was then that another girl quickly dashed over to the scene to retrieve her ball – a certain girl who, likewise, was tall, statuesque, and in possession of a rather athletic, yet feminine build; her bouncy blonde hair was pulled back in consideration of the sun visor she wore on her head, while the rest of her outfit consisted of a light blue polo underneath a lightweight jacket since it was of a time of year in which the days had grown chillier than they had been… even though this girl's short khaki shorts seemed to make wearing a jacket of any kind rather pointless.

"I am literally sorry, you guys…" the girl apologized as they gradually straightened their postures.

"Maybe you should take up baseball, Lori," said Brittany who found the golf ball on the ground and tossed it to the other tall blonde. "You have a talent for really knockin' 'em out of the park!"

While a chuckle was exchanged amongst the other girls, Ruby found herself mentally studying that name she had just uttered…

Lori… Lori…

"Lori?" She asked.

"Yeah," the blonde golfer responded with a nod.

"Lori… Loud?" Ruby asked again.

"Yeah," Lori Loud nodded again, albeit with more confusion over this young Indian girl's query.

"So… you must be, like, Luan Loud's sister," deduced Ruby.

"That's right. How do you know Luan?" Lori asked before she jumped to a rather unpleasant conclusion. "She hasn't pranked you, has she?"

After having gotten suited up in a new team jersey, now as number seventy-seven, as per the regulations for numbers among various team positions, Spencer could see that Ruby and the other girls were engaged in conversation with Lori – that was not a good sign as far as he was concerned. Being classmates with Luan in the theater club was knowledge that the others did not possess, but what they were knowledgeable of was the fabrication that he and Ruby were the victims of a Luan Loud prank that they had been cast as Romeo and Juliet in the upcoming school play of the Shakespearean tragedy which bore the same name. With lightning speed, Spencer dashed over to the scene just before the other girls had an opportunity to share such knowledge with Lori.

"Hey, Lori!" Spencer greeted as he effectively cut the others off as the pass.

"Oh, hey, Spence," Lori returned the greeting which seemed more like a rather rude interruption.

The burly jock was quick to wrap an arm around Ruby's shoulder and pull her close to him as he said, "Well, I see you've met my gal, Ruby. She's a keeper, this one!"

His nervous chuckle and odd behavior raised a few eyebrows, including Ruby's.

"Um, yeah…" responded Lori. "We were just talking about…"

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry she wasted your time like that," said Spencer, which garnered a complete brow collapse from Ruby by this point. But, the jock decided now was the time to break up this little gathering: "Keep practicin' those putts, Lor; swing on through to the other side!"

"Yeah… I'll literally do that…" said a confused Lori, who took her ball with her and returned to the adjacent golfing green, though she could not help but wonder just how, exactly, it was that her sister and this new girl knew each other... and why Spencer killed their conversation.

By now, he had garnered quite a number of confused stares from the other girls over his strange behavior, but he did his best to set their minds at ease…

"Go ahead, grab your seats, we'll be starting soon enough; Ruby'll be right with you!" His nervous chuckle did little to alleviate the looks on their faces, but they did begin their ascent up to their specially reserved seat in the bleachers; meanwhile, he turned to Ruby and lowered his voice as he practically scolded her for what had happened. "What were you doing?!"

"What?!" Ruby responded in dismay. "I was just, like, talking to Lori…"

"You can't talk to Lori," he practically hissed. "She's Luan's sister!"

"Like I don't know that?" She responded. "Luan told me all about having a butt load of sisters, and, like…"

"You don't need to tell Lori that and she doesn't need to know you know Luan," Spencer continued to press. "You don't need to say anything to anybody that might reveal we were in theater club."

"Dude, what is your deal?!" She demanded to know. "Why do you have such a bee in your boxers about being in theater club?"

"Look, I don't have the time to talk about any of this," said Spencer as he began to shove Ruby toward the bleachers. "Just grab yourself a seat and relax…"

The jock scurried back out onto the field to participate in the day's training, while Ruby trekked up to the reserved bleacher to join the rest of the girls.

"I need to relax?" She mumbled to herself.

Ruby slid her way down to where the other girls sat, and planted herself next to Sophia, who happened to be the one who sat on the outside of their row at the moment; she was quick to unload the pressing questions onto their new fellow groupie.

"So, what was that all about with Spencer?" She asked.

"Danged if I know," a perturbed Ruby replied with a somewhat defeated shrug; whatever the case was, one thing that she did know was that if this was another side to Spencer she knew nothing about, she did not like it one bit, and hoped she would not be seeing more of this particular side.

Spencer had played football since middle school in a few different positions - both offense and defense; although he preferred playing offense, and Royal Woods High's football team occasionally played both ways, it was, for the most part, a defensive team. As was Coach Rubiner's original hunch, he seemed to possess quite a bit of promise for their team as a lineman: in addition to his ideal build for such a position, the coach could also see that he not only was an energetic and aggressive player, but also possessed fast footwork, quick reflexes, and remarkable coordination – all of which he really needed to prove he would be capable of during their actual games, which is why he found himself participating in a number of drills specifically to further help train him for this position. Having played this position before, the drills were very much a breeze for Spencer, and all the while, Ruby had to admit that there was a fascination in watching him participate in these drills – it was amazing that someone with his burly build could be so quick and light on his feet… however, she had never watched a football game before, let alone any game for that matter, as sports were something that she never really pursued out of any kind of interest, even as a spectator, so she was quite lost as she watched him perform these warm-ups for his feet.

"Okay, so, like, why does Spence just keep running back and forth over those things like that?" Ruby leaned over to ask Sophia as she watched her boyfriend jog one foot in between large bags that were spaced one yard apart on the field.

Sophia, meanwhile, gave Ruby a perplexed look as she explained, "Because they're D-line drills."

Ruby still looked a little lost as to what that meant.

"All defensive linemen go through these drills," continued Sophia. "It's to help improve their footwork."

"Oh, right-right-right," Ruby nodded with an awkward smile, as if understood what was just explained her.

Before long, Spencer had begun another series of drills known as footwork gauntlet; from what Ruby could see, there was a pattern of sorts laid out on the field: a ring, a rope ladder, two of those large bags, another rope ladder, and another ring. She watched with interest as Spencer's skillful footwork made all of his reps –ring steps, Icky shuffles, and hurdle explosions- look so effortless; his feet were practically a blur, which continued to blow his girlfriend's mind. After a speed burst finish in which he ran a little ways out into the field beyond the hurdles, he turned around, and went through each of his reps all over again – this time, in the opposite direction, and even faster than the previous set; how he managed to shuffle his rather large feet inside those tiny circles and squares without tripping over himself was beyond Ruby's comprehension, but it continued to blow her away. After another speed burst finish, Spencer had to admit he was already feeling just a tad fatigued from being out of practice, but to see that he had his girlfriend's undivided attention not only gave him the drive to stick with it, it also compelled him to show off a little – just to further impress her. He went through the footwork gauntlet again, but this time, he added a little flare, which grabbed the attention of more than just the Indian girl he had his eyes on in the bleachers. As his feet shuffled their way in and out of the rings and Ickies, he also alternated crossing his arms over his chest, planting his fists on his hips, and even sticking his hands straight out into the air – it looked more as though he did something of a Russian Cossack dance rather than D-line drills; nevertheless, he succeeded in bringing some entertainment to his girlfriend as she watched on in great amusement, while the other girls also began to giggle at how silly he looked. The sudden blow of a whistle startled him as he could see Coach Rubiner coming towards him; although the scruffy coach did appear to have a smile on his face, it was less of a smile of pleasure and more of a smile of bemusement as he approached number seventy-seven and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You've got some pretty fancy moves there, Banks," he remarked.

"Thanks, coach," huffed Spencer with a gracious nod.

"But, let's dispense with the theatrics," the coach continued a little more firmly. "This is football, not Footloose."

By now, Spencer was flushed with embarrassment; he just wanted to impress, and, perhaps, even entertain his girlfriend a little as he drilled, he did not think others had noticed the extra little flare he invoked.

Red-faced and covered in sweat, he humbly obliged his coach's instructions with, "Yes, sir."

He stole another glance out into the stands, and while the other girls worked on composing themselves after their little giggle-fest, Ruby looked just a little more concerned – even though from where she sat, she could not hear the conversation that was had on the field, she could see by the look on Spencer's face that it must not have been entirely pleasant.

"Keep up the great footwork, though; you're very agile… that's just what we need in a D.L.," the coach gave his player one last compliment. "Now, let's see if you're just as good with your hands as you are your feet."

"Yes, sir!" Spencer responded with much more affirmation.

The footwork gauntlet was designed, obviously, to train the feet, but now it was time to train Spencer's hands as well – his hand action was just as beneficial to his position on the team as a defensive lineman as his footwork was. If Ruby had to describe what it was she watched him do at this point in his training, it would be something of a combination of boxing and karate, as it looked as though he kept running into a large punching bag that was weighted to the ground and giving it a swift karate chop each time he ran past it. The other girls were totally engrossed in watching their respective boyfriends engage in their training on the field, but Ruby was still completely clueless to the drills she watched Spencer participate in… she had to suppose the footwork gauntlet made some sense, as football does require quite a bit of running, and a player would probably need to be as nimble and agile on the field as possible, but what possible purpose could running into someone or something and giving them a karate chop serve? Not wanting to keep seeming so clueless, Ruby decided to make something of a facetious remark to Sophia in hopes she would clear somethings up for her without making it seem like she still didn't understand what the purpose of this training was.

"Looks like Spence is taking up a little karate, too, huh?" Ruby remarked with an awkward forced chuckle.

"Karate?" Sophia asked as she gave her another strange look.

"Yeah, I mean, like, check out those swift karate chops he's got goin' on down there," she pointed out.

"Uh, he's takin' out the offense," said Sophia, who began to wonder if Ruby understood anything about football whatsoever. "It's what a D.L. does; he's gotta get past the O.L. so he can try to get to the quarterback or running back."

"Yeah, I know," lied Ruby with another forced chuckle. "I was, like, just making an L-O-L!"

Although Ruby mostly kept her eyes on Spencer's D.L. drills, she would still occasionally cast her eyes throughout the rest of the field to see what some of the other players were doing as far their drills went; throughout the afternoon, she also witnessed a pair of players engaged in a jump-around drill in which one would jump, turn around, catch, and tuck the ball as the other tossed it to him; another pair of players engaged in a lateral walk as they tapped the ball back and forth between them; a reactive drill known as a box wave in which other plays took turns as they ran into the center of four orange cones and shuffled or ran in various different directions between said cones; a contain drill in which a single player ran with the ball while two others charged at him from the opposite direction in an attempt to contain him… at one point, the coach had all of the players engage in group drills as well, such as up-downs, which involved the players shuffling their feet in one spot and drop to their chests before they hopped back to their feet again – all in sync. As it turned out, there was more to football than just kicking and tossing around a brown, lemon-shaped ball… a lot more than that. Ruby was aware that athletes, like anyone else in other professions, had to practice and train for their sports, but she never considered just how much practice and training went into a game like football; almost everything she witnessed on the field was unfamiliar to her. Maybe when she sits in on an actual Friday night game later this week, all of this will start to make a little more sense, thus allowing her to better appreciate her boyfriend's other passion for sports.

After the various school clubs had concluded their activities for the day, Lori had driven she and her other fellow high school-aged sisters home, but along the ride, her curiosity had gotten the better of her, as she began to prod Luan for some answers to her questions.

"So, Luan," she began. "You haven't been pranking a girl named Ruby, have you?"

"Ruby?" Luan asked from the seat behind her oldest sister. "No, why?"

"Ruby, this new girl in sports club mentioned knowing you," explained Lori. "I'm curious to know how you know each other."

"Well, Ruby used to be in theater club, but she quit..." said Luan. "What's she doing in sports club?"

"What was she doing in theater club?" Lori countered.

"She was one of the fairies in A Midsummer Night's Dream, remember?" Luan pointed out.

"No... I just remember you were the fairy queen," confessed Lori, before she also remembered: "Wasn't Spencer in that play?"

"Yeah, he was Puck," said Luan. "Is he in the sports club now, too?"

"Yeah, he actually interrupted the conversation I was having with Ruby when she mentioned knowing you," explained Lori, but as she got to thinking more about Spencer's interruption, she more she was curious about something else. "I know it's literally none of my business, but did he strike you as a good boyfriend to her?"

Luan furrowed her brow a little as she confessed, "Honestly, I haven't paid much attention to them... I've... had my mind on... other things..."

"Like a certain fairy king who pranced about the stage in little tights, aye?" Luna asked as she playfully nudged her sister with her elbow, while all Luan could do was blush and roll her shoulders.